We’re looking to sell off property to generate up to £10m - John Hart

The Covid pandemic changed so much in our lives. Many people continue to work from home for all or part of the week. Many employers are finding that a hybrid style of working suits their current and prospective employees, who would rather not come into the office every day.

At the county council only a proportion of staff are working in our offices on any given day.

So we're looking at rationalising our property holdings and saving money which can go on our services. This also means we'll be able to reduce our carbon footprint and potentially develop some much-needed housing for local people.

Across this huge county, we currently own, lease or occupy more than 1,000 buildings or parcels of land. That includes 364 schools, 500 plots of land, 64 farms and around 300 operational buildings.

These include offices, children's centres, youth centres, recycling centres, day centres, respite centres and contact centres.

Excluding schools, our gross running costs are around £8 million a year with a maintenance liability of more than £20m.

We need to become even more efficient and sustainable and reduce our costs. That'll help us meet the continually growing demand for our services including support for vulnerable children and adults.

We’ve already been doing this. Since 2009 we’ve sold some £70m of assets which has helped in a small way towards the £1.85 billion we have spent  improving the infrastructure in Devon over the last 14 years.

My Cabinet has agreed to sell property and land which could generate £6 to £10m. It'll also reduce our running costs by around £300,000 a year and avoid backlog maintenance costs of around £3m to £5m.

Initially we plan to market Larkbeare House which is a grand former residence by the River Exe in Exeter as well as surplus land at County Hall on which we hope new homes may be developed.

We’re already talking to the city council – which is responsible for housing - about this. Two other office buildings in Exeter will be sold.

 In Barnstaple, we're planning to sell the St Georges Road Youth Centre and relocate the current services to Rosebank, along with premises we own at the Pottington Industrial Unit.

In a previous column, I wrote about the threats of ‘bankruptcy’ facing Birmingham and other councils. I would repeat Devon is not in that situation but we need to be both robust and agile in dealing with every line in our budget.

So we will ensure the buildings we keep will support modern office working, including reconfiguring space to provide flexible working and collaboration spaces.

We will continue to develop measures to support effective homeworking by providing appropriate support and technology for our staff.

We'll also explore generating income by leasing out space in our buildings and continue to rationalise the property portfolio by transferring or selling surplus properties and land.

But I’ll repeat the assurance I gave the Cabinet – that does not include our farms estate which is a vital asset in helping Devon people get started in one of this county’s great industries.

All this will deliver savings from lower running and maintenance costs and make the best and most appropriate use of our buildings.

It'll also help our commitment to be net zero carbon by 2030 by de-carbonising the property portfolio through more efficient use of energy and greater use of renewable energy.

We have already done a lot of work with our district council colleagues in trying to help solve Devon's housing crisis. So we will work with them to consider sites to meet specific housing need.